Chapter 106

My guts leaped into my throat with my freefall. Pure darkness enveloped me. I fell faster. My muscles clenched in preparation for landing, but it didn't come.

Shit.

Over my head, the trapdoor crashed down. No one had been strong enough to close it, so that must've been Paul, welcoming me to his nightmare abode.

Finally, my feet hit solid ground, shooting stabs of pain through my ankles. Then the rest of my body slammed into the ground, too, when I stumbled and fell. Days ago when I'd been on patrol, I'd dropped a rock down here, and its landing hadn't sounded as far underground as it now appeared to be. How far had I fallen?

I hissed as I unfolded all of my limbs out from underneath me, every muscle screaming in protest. Complete dark pressed in, heavy and terrible, and my eyes grew too wide for my head as they sought out light.